Troubled,
by JustAPotterholic
Summary: When a troubled teenager, Eden, moves into Elm Tree House, all sorts of things are uncovered as the other DG kids try to delve into her past and uncover the truth about why she's in care. What romances will blossom, and who will take an immediate disliking to Eden? Read 'Troubled' to find out...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, this is my first TDG fic so I hope it's okay! I've basically written this basing it around the new series of The Dumping Ground (Series 2) but Gina hasn't left, and is still a care worker at Elm Tree. I'll be writing from lots of points of view, including my OC, Eden. Please review, and I hope you enjoy! :D**

_Eden's POV_

I stared out of the window of my new social worker, Jenny's, red Mini. I wondered what the care home I'd have to stay in would be like; I'd never lived in a care home before. I felt sort of sick with nerves and the wound on my stomach was stinging under the dressing that covered it. A new rucksack that Jenny had bought me held the things that had been salvaged from my room and was sitting at my feet. I clutched the jacket I'd been bought in my hands, but only because I needed something to hold on to.

"Are you okay? We're nearly there." Jenny said, taking a hand from the steering wheel and placing it on my shoulder, I flinched away a little, but then relaxed when I realised she wasn't going to hurt me.

"Yeah... I think I'm just nervous..." My voice shook as I spoke, but I couldn't cry. Crying would mean I was weak, and that is something that I'm not. I'm not weak.

"Don't worry, the careworkers – Mike and Gina – are very nice, you have nothing to fret about." I knew Jenny was only trying to make me feel better, but I just nodded and resumed my position staring out of the window, shrugging her hand off my shoulder.

* * *

A few minutes passed and we finally reached our destination – a large, Victorian-style house with a sign in front of it that read 'Elm Tree House'.

"We're here!" Jenny said, sounding a little over-enthusiastic as she took the keys out of the car. "Grab your things and come up to the door." I opened the door, slung the rucksack over my shoulders and followed my social worker to the door where a tall, friendly-looking, bald man stood.

"You must be Eden, I'm Mike, nice to meet you!" Mike smiled, holding his hand out for me to shake. I shook it slowly after nervously wiping my hand on my jeans to make sure it wasn't sweaty from nerves. I almost jumped out of my skin as Jenny's phone blared out a ringtone.

"Hi... Yes we've just got to Elm Tree, why?" Jenny spoke frustratedly into her mobile. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I'm really sorry, there's been a crisis with two kids in Birmingham, I have to go!" My social worker said before rushing off to her car. I sighed, watched as her car sped away into the distance.

"Don't just stand there, you better come in out of the cold." Mike ushered me into the house. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. It looked very homely and was furnished nicely. There were some kids running about - a girl with red hair and a boy with blonde hair that looked about 6 or 7 – but they weren't paying very much attention to me.

"You're going to be sharing with a girl called Faith, she's very nice and she's 15 – the same as you – I hope that's alright." Mike said, showing me through to an office where a large, Jamaican lady was sitting.

"Hello babes, you're Eden, right?" I nodded, assuming that the woman must be the Gina who Jenny had spoken about. "I hope you'll feel very welcome here, yeah?" I nodded again, shifting in the chair that Mike had told me to sit on.

"We'd just like you to know that we're here for you, and you can tell us anything in confidence, okay?" Mike asked. I nodded again, thinking that there was as much chance of that happening as the possibility of seeing a flying pig.

"Can I go now? To my room?" I asked, wanting nothing more than to be alone.

"Yes of course babes, I'll just show you up to your room." Gina said, taking my rucksack for me. I didn't like the fact they talked to me like I'm a baby – I'm fifteen! – but I figured that they were only trying to help and it wasn't their fault.

"Here we go." Gina said, stopping outside a room at the top of the stairs. She opened the door and ushered me in, handing me my rucksack. "The bed by the window's yours, and we've cleared a shelf and a set of drawers, I'll leave you to get settled in." With that, the Jamaican care-worker walked out, leaving the door slightly open. I looked around the room – it was really cool, with the walls painted blue and some fairy lights around the door frame and the window. By what I saw through the posters on the wall above her bed, Faith must be really into sport and running. I hoped she was nice, like the care workers said.

I started to unpack my clothes into the set of drawers to the right of my bed – or what was left of my clothes. There was a pair of black jeans, some leggings, a blue and white checked shirt, a navy Superdry hoodie, a few t-shirts (mostly Harry Potter, Doctor Who and Bastille merch) and a school shirt, along with some underwear and a pair of pyjamas. I pulled my black Vans out of the backpack and placed them beside the bed and unpacked my books, CDs and DVDs onto the shelf. I then kicked off my Converse and flopped back onto my bed. The sheets were soft, unlike the scratchy hospital ones I'd slept in for the last week. I slowly drifted off into a troubled sleep, tossing about as I went through the nightmare I'd had for 7 days running...


	2. Chapter 2

_Eden's POV_

I woke up to someone towering over me and immediately started to panic. I screamed out, thrashing my arms and trying to escape. My breathing was heavy and sweat was pouring down my face.

"Shh, Eden... It's okay. You were just having a nightmare, I thought it would be better to wake you." I took a deep breath in and opened my eyes. There was a girl standing by my bed, tall with long black hair and a darker complexion.

"Oh god. I'm sorry." I said, running my hand through my long blonde hair and sitting up in my bed.

"No, it's fine, as long as you're okay. I just came upstairs to introduce myself – I'm your new roommate, Faith – and tell you that it's dinner in fifteen minutes. I nodded at her in thanks, still trying to catch my breath.

"Um, thanks. Can you tell me where the bathroom is?" I asked, grabbing my checked shirt to go and get changed into along with my hairbrush and facecloth.

"Yeah, sure, it's down the first set of stairs and then the second door to the left, I'll show you if you want?" Faith asked, kindly.

"Thanks," I said, walking into the bathroom. It was big and bright, with a big mirror above the low-down sink. I took my zip-up hoodie off, revealing my horrible arms. My upper arms were a state with lots of scars, some new and some old. I was close to tears by the time I'd pulled my shirt on over my arms, scraped my hair back into a ponytail and splashed water over my face to make myself look more awake.

"DINNER!" I heard a loud shout from Gina. I quickly put my things in my room and went downstairs, following the two young kids I'd seen earlier. I walked into the big, open plan kitchen and dining room before reluctantly taking a seat between Faith and a girl one year younger than me called Tee.

"It's lasagne, is that okay, Eden?" Gina asked me. I nodded, it didn't really bother me what it was as I probably wasn't going to eat very much. Everyone else tucked in, but I sat and stared down at my plate, pushing the food around rhythmically.

"You not hungry?" A boy named Rick who was the same age as me asked. I shrugged, watching as he took another mouthful. "It's good, I promise."

"Rick, leave it. If she doesn't want to eat it, she doesn't have to. Give her a break." Johnny, Tee's brother said. I gave him a smile of thanks before taking another gulp of water.

* * *

I sat in the living room, staring at the TV. I wasn't really paying attention to what was on – some soap opera that I didn't really want to pay attention to – but all of the other older kids were watching it. Me, Tee, Faith, Johnny, Rick and another girl called Carmen were sitting on the sofas. I had a bottle of water in my hands and sipped from it every few minutes, in an attempt to stop myself from getting bored.

I barely even noticed when everyone started to leave the living room. I got up and followed Faith up to our room, flopping down on my bed and checking my phone. 1 voicemail message. I quickly dialled my voicemail number and listened.

"_Hey Eden, it's Cal here, I've just heard about mum and dad and the crash and everything. I'm so sorry – I'm getting the next flight back to Birmingham so I can be with you. Why wasn't I invited to the funerals? Never mind. Look, Eds, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't of left you all to go to Boston. Please phone me back. Bye." _

I threw my phone down on my bed and rolled over so my face was buried in my pillow. I sighed deeply, not knowing what to do. He'd ripped our family apart, making mum and dad fall out and then leaving me to try and sort it out when I was just 12.

"Aren't you gonna phone back?" Faith asked. I shook my head. "I reckon you should. I mean he's probably upset about your parents too."

"I doubt it. He tore out family apart, and now my parents are dead. He's not my brother anymore." I said before breaking down into a fit of tears. I felt arms around me, and Faith was telling me that it was all going to be okay, that Mike wouldn't let him near me anyway.

A few minutes later, I managed to calm down and pull away from the tight hug that my roommate had me in.

"You okay?" Faith asked. I nodded, giving a weak smile before standing up and grabbing my wash bag and pyjamas to go and get ready for bed. I paused just as I was about to leave the room.

"You won't tell anyone, will you? I just don't want them to know yet." I said.

"Of course not. You can count on that." Faith said, smiling.

"Thanks."

* * *

I woke up at 6am that morning, after having that same nightmare again. It was horrible. I walked to the bathroom as quietly as I could and locked the door behind me. I slid down the back of the door to land on the cold, tiled floor. I sat there for about half an hour, sobbing. I knew they'd all be getting up for school soon, so I stood up, washed my face and went back to the bedroom and lay on my back listening to my favourite band, Bastille, until Gina walked into our room to get us up.

"C'mon girls, breakfast's in 45 minutes. Eden, babes, you don't have to get dressed if you don't want to." I nodded before pulling my covers off me.

"Are you crazy? You're actually going to get up when you have the whole day to yourself?" Faith asked me as she brushed her hair.

"Yeah. I can't stay in bed all day. It drives me mental." I said, grabbing some leggings and my hoodie and quickly getting changed, making sure Faith wasn't looking in my direction. I made my way to the bathroom, waited in a queue for twenty minutes and finally got to go to the toilet and brush my teeth. I sorted my long, straight hair and left the bathroom, ignoring Carmen's moaning about me taking so long. I already knew I didn't like her, and I'd only spoken to her once. It was a short lived conversation about fashion which I didn't have a particular interest in.

I walked downstairs and joined everyone – apart from Carmen who'd woken up late and Floss, Mo and Harry who still went to primary school – at the breakfast table. I had a bit of an appetite so I had a slice of toast and an apple with a glass of water. It was the first thing I'd eaten for a week and it felt nice to get something into me.

"Eden, can you come and have a word with me in the office when you're finished?" Mike asked me. I nodded, watching as he walked back out of the room.

I made some small talk about the local high school with Tee and Faith to find out what I was getting into – it was apparently a very small school with only around 300 pupils. I quickly helped Tyler with the maths homework he'd forgot to do before saying goodbye to Tee and Faith and walking to Mike's office.

I stood outside for a minute, taking a deep breath in and knocking.

"Come in!" Mike shouted. I opened the door and walked in, sitting down in the seat Mike showed me into.

"So, Eden, how're you settling in?" He asked me.

"Good, I think. It's nice here." Was all I could say. I didn't know what else I could say.

"That's good. I have a letter for you here, it's from your parents' legal team. They've payed for the damage to the delivery van from when you were moving with the money from the house you were meant to be moving into. The leftover money's been split between you and your older brother. Yours is to be put into a bank account which you can access when you're 16."

"Wow. Okay... Um, jeez. I didn't really think about what would happen to the money." I said, opening the letter. I quickly read it, which basically said what Mike had told me, apart from there was figures on the letter. The house was worth £210,000, and the cost of replacing the van plus compensation along with my parents' funerals was £48,000. That left me and my brother with £81,000 each. Eighty one grand.

"That's mental. I don't understand, like how can I have that much money. I don't even like having the money, it's my parents money..." I blabbered on, and before I knew it, I was crying. I hated myself for being such a baby, but I felt helpless. My parents had just died and I'd lost everything and then been given basically all of my parents' life savings. They'd saved for ages to buy that house.

"It's okay... I know it's overwhelming but it's okay... Everything will be fine." Mike reassured me. I had no clue what to do, so I just sat and let myself cry.

* * *

Characters I'm using (but some won't really be mentioned a lot): Floss (6), Harry (7), Mo (9), Tyler (12), Jodie (12), Bailey (12), Carmen (13), Tee (14), Eden (15), Johnny (15), Rick (15) and Faith (15).


End file.
